This invention relates to apparatuses used in hospitals, convalescent and retirement homes for bathing invalid patients. Some elderly or invalid persons may have limited mobility and, in particular, may be unable to step over the edge of a conventional bathtub, or to negotiate the small step at the entrance of a shower enclosure. Sponge baths may thus be the only means of bathing such patients. Without special appratuses these patients may be unable to soak their bodies in soothing solutions such as those used for the treatment of bed-sores.
Various types of devices have been proposed in the past for facilitating the care of bedfast patients such as those disclosed in U.S. Pats. Nos. 2,560,997 F. O. THOMPSON; 3,407,411 E. V. STEVENS; 3,613,127 J. M. BOND and 3,701,170 J. M. BOND. These patents however, disclose devices designed for completely immobile patients with no ambulatory ability whatsoever. The applicant is not aware of any existing device designed for the type of limitedly ambulatory patients described above.